Lyubimov said: “Boris Johnson’s statement confirms my thought - at a time when is it all still very unclear, already we receive a threat to boycott our football championship, and threats that ‘We’ll be taking measures'.

The pair were exposed to an unknown substance leading authorities to lock down the area in Wiltshire

Lyubimov added: “My conclusion is this: it has been done by Western secret service to splash oil on fire, to get this fire - which started for no single reason - going properly, and to help an attack on our country.”

Asked by a TV interviewer about Vladimir Putin’s threat to punish traitor spies, he said: “I don’t know what Putin was saying.

“He is saying a lot of things.

"But do think logically - to carry out such an operation, what for, why?

“And immediately Boris Johnson intervenes…

“I think if this wasn’t done by Western secret services themselves, then it must have been some kind of Russian gang linked to some Western secret services, I don’t know which ones exactly.

“There are a lot of Russians living in the UK.”

Russian foreign ministry says claims the country was involved in the alleged poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal are designed to complicate UK-Russian relations